<html>
<body>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font size=2>Website
address:
<a href="http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/ExternalAffairs/News/Documents/FBB.90DayFinding.NR.9.9.11.pdf">
http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/ExternalAffairs/News/Documents/FBB.90DayFinding.NR.9.9.11.pdf</a>
</font> <br><br>
<font size=2>or if you prefer, here is the text:</font> <br><br>
<font size=2>NEWS RELEASE</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">September 12, 2011 11-135</font>
<br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Contact: Janet Lebson,
503-231-6179</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF">
Janet_lebson@fws.gov</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>Endangered Species Act
Protection for Franklin’s Bumble Bee May Be Warranted, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service Finds</b></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><i>More Information Sought on
its Status and Threats</i></font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Listing the Franklin’s bumble bee
under the Endangered Species Act may be warranted, the U.S. Fish
and</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Wildlife Service announced today. The
agency is seeking more information about its status and threats
before</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">making a final determination on
whether or not to include it on the Endangered Species List.</font>
<br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">With the smallest distribution of any
bumble bee in North America and perhaps the world, the
Franklin’s</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">bumble bee has been found in an area
of about 190 miles north-south and 70 miles east-west in Douglas,</font>
<br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Jackson, and Josephine counties in
southwestern Oregon and in Siskiyou and Trinity counties in
northern</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">California. Some of its known range
is on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and
U.S.</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Forest Service and it also inhabits
agricultural and urban areas.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">“We have long considered the
Franklin’s bumble bee a species of concern, and surveys over a dozen
years seem</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">to reveal a significant decline,”
said Paul Henson, State Supervisor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service’s</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office.
“We have some information on potential causes, but we don’t
know</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">specifically what is happening with
this particular species. Our goal at this point is to invite more
scientific and</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">commercial information, especially
from people in the agricultural community who have imported bumble
bees</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">for pollinating crops and from
academic researchers who may know about unrecorded Franklin’s bumble
bee</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">sightings.”</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">The last documented sighting of the
Franklin’s bumble bee was in 2006. For the last 12 years, the Fish
and</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Wildlife Service has provided
financial and technical support for Franklin’s bumble bee research.
About</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">$30,000 has been provided to Dr.
Robbin Thorp, Professor Emeritus, Department of Entomology, University
of</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">California at Davis, for annual
surveys and research.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">The number of Dr. Thorp’s sightings
declined from a high of 94 individuals in 1998 to 20 in 1999, and</font>
<br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">continued on a downward trend until
20 were found again in 2002, and then downward again to zero until
2006,</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">when a single worker was
observed.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Also in 2006, a separate BLM survey
of 16 sites that were believed to provide optimal habitat for
Franklin’s</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">bumble bee was undertaken, but no
bees were found. While some postulate that the species may now be</font>
<br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">extinct, conclusive evidence is not
available.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">The Fish and Wildlife Service was
petitioned to list the Franklin’s bumble bee under the Endangered
Species</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Act as endangered and to designate
critical habitat by Dr. Thorp and the Xerces Society for
Invertebrate</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Conservation last year. The
petitioners hypothesize that disease introduced through the use of
commercially</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">produced bumble bees for agricultural
pollination is the primary reason for the decline. The Fish and
Wildlife</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Service provided nearly $35,000 for
research at a University of Illinois laboratory to study the possibility
that</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">the species’ decline is related to
introduced pathogens that could have been spread through transport and
use of</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">commercial bees. Scientists
identified a common strain affecting bumble bees in Europe and the U.S.
and are</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">trying to determine whether it was
imported or is naturally occurring.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">The petition cited a wide range of
potential threats, including habitat alteration, the inadequacy of
regulatory</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">protections, pesticides, population
dynamics, climate change, and competition from other bees. Much of
what</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">is known is general and the degree to
which these are threats to Franklin’s bumble bees in particular is
unknown</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">at this time.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Bumble bees pollinate crops grown in
greenhouses and open fields, including tomatoes, peppers,
cucumbers,</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">eggplant, and different berries. They
also are used commercially for pollinating flowering plants. In the
wild,</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">they play an important role in the
food chain; for example, some of the plants they pollinate produce
berries that</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">serve as a food source for other
wildlife such as birds and bears.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">When the Fish and Wildlife Service is
petitioned to list a species, there are several steps in the
process.</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Generally, the first is to determine
whether or not emergency listing is warranted, and if it is not, the next
step is</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">to issue a “90-Day Finding” on
whether the petition presents substantial information that listing may
be</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">warranted. If it is considered
potentially warranted (like today’s finding), the agency moves on to
conduct a</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">“status review” of the species to
gather more information. The next step is a “12-Month Finding”
which</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">determines either that the petitioned
action is warranted, that it is not warranted, or that it is warranted
but</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">precluded by other pending listing
actions that take priority, and the species becomes a “candidate” for
listing in</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">the future. The status of each
candidate species is re-evaluated each year until either a listing
proposal is</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">developed or a “not warranted”
finding is made based on new information.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">The Fish and Wildlife Service is
including graphics on its website,
</font><a href="http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo" eudora="autourl">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF">
www.fws.gov/oregonfwo</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">, to
help with</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Franklin’s bumble bee
identification. Some distinguishing characteristics of the Franklin’s
bumble bee include:</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Extended yellow coloration on their
middle, between the head and abdomen, which extends well beyond
the</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">wing bases and forms an inverted
U-shape around the central patch of black;</font> <br>
• <font face="Times New Roman, Times">A lack of yellow on the
abdomen;</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">A predominantly black face with
yellow on the top of the head; and</font> <br>
White coloration at the tip of the abdomen. <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Other bumble bees with similar
coloration in the range of the Franklin’s bumble bee have the yellow
coloration</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">extending back to the wing bases or
only slightly beyond, and usually have one or more bands of yellow
either</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">on the middle or slightly behind the
middle of the abdomen. Females of most species have yellow</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">pubescencefine hair-like structures
on the faceiin contrast to black on the Franklin’s bumble bee.
Females</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">of the western bumble bee (<i>Bombus
occidentalis</i>) and <i>B. californicus </i>that have black pubescence
on the face</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">also have the same coloration on the
vertexthe top or crownn of the headin contrast to the yellow</font>
<br>
pubescence on the vertex in the Franklin’s bumble bee. Females of <i>B.
californicus </i>have a long face in contrast <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">to the round face of the Franklin’s
bumble bee and the western bumble bee.</font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Information on the Franklin’s
bumble bee may be provided to: Paul Henson, State Supervisor, U.S. Fish
and</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Wildlife Service, Oregon Fish and
Wildlife Office, 2600 SE
98</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=1>th
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">Ave., Suite 100, Portland, OR
97266; </font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">(503)2331 6179; fax (503) 2316195.
If you use a telecommunmunications device for the deaf (TDD), please call
the</font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Federal Information Relay Service
(FIRS) at 8008778339.</font> t> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>The Endangered Species Act
provides a critical safety net for America’s native fish, wildlife and
plants. The</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
working to actively engage conservation partners and the public in the
search</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>for improved and innovative ways
to conserve and recover imperiled species. To learn more about
the</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>Endangered Species Program, visit
</font><a href="http://www.fws.gov/endangered/">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF">
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/</a></font>
<a href="http://www.fws.gov/endangered/">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">.</a></i></font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>The mission of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance
fish,</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>wildlife, plants, and their
habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a
leader and</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>trusted partner in fish and
wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship
of lands and</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>natural resources, dedicated
professionals, and commitment to public service. For more information on
our</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>work and the people who make it
happen, visit
</font><a href="http://www.fws.gov/" eudora="autourl">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF">www.fws.gov</a></font>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">. Connect with our Facebook page
at</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><i>
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/usfws" eudora="autourl">
www.facebook.com/usfws</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">,
follow our tweets at
</font><a href="http://www.twitter.com/usfwshq" eudora="autourl">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF">
www.twitter.com/usfwshq</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">,
watch our YouTube Channel at</i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><i>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/usfws">http://www.youtube.com/usfws
</a></font><a href="http://www.youtube.com/usfws">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">and download photos from our Flickr
page at</a></i></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><i>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq" eudora="autourl">
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq</a></font>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq" eudora="autourl">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">.</a></i></font> <br><br>
<br><br>
<font size=2>Nancy Pollot<br>
USFWS-Oregon Fish & Wildlife Office<br>
2600 SE 98th Ave., Suite 100<br>
Portland, OR 97266<br>
503-231-6910</font> </blockquote></body>
</html>